Loving You is Like Running
by PerfectCosima
Summary: Soccer Cop Teen Au
1. Chapter 1

Beth grabbed her bag off the bleachers as she dashed out of the auditorium. She hated those stupid assemblies, especially when they scheduled them at the end of the day, cutting into track practice. It wasn't until she reached the locker room and went to pull out her clean outfit that she realized her mistake. The bright pink hairbrush that came out of the bag was definitely not hers, and neither was the sparkly pink leotard. She groaned as she rifled though the bag and discovered an ID tag inside with contact information printed on it in neat handwriting. Alison Hendrix.

She checked her locker desperately for some work-out clothes before patting down her pockets for her phone so that she could call the number on the card. But of course it wasn't that easy because she had left her phone in her bag so that she wouldn't lose it. Slamming her locker shut angrily, she went to borrow her friend's phone.

"Hey Kat!" she called out across the locker room. "Can I borrow your phone for a sec? I accidentally grabbed the wrong bag, and I don't have any of my running clothes with me."

"Again?!" Katja asked, rolling her eyes and deftly launching her phone across the room.

Beth just laughed as she caught it and typed in the number. "Like you never have," she retorted as she raised the phone to her ear. The ringing went on for a few moments before it was picked up on the other end.

"Alison Hendrix," a girl answered, her voice a bit higher than Beth's. Something about her tone made Beth's heart skip a beat, and she struggled to form her words as she replied.

"Ummmm, hey... yeah, this is Beth, um Beth Childs. I kind of picked up your bag by accident and..."

"Oh!" An exclamation from the receiver cut off Beth's rambling. "I don't really need the bag until tomorrow, so do you want to meet up tonight? I'll give you my address and you can stop by any time after nine."

Beth scrambled for a pen, pulling one out of Alison's bag and writing down the address on her arm.

"I'll see you later, then," Alison said, not letting Beth even get in a passing word.

"Yeah, totally," Beth replied, but her goodbye was cut off by a buzz that let her know that the other girl had already hung up.

She handed over the phone to Katja, who looked at her expectantly. She sighed and ruefully ran her hand through her hair. "I'm meeting her at her house tonight to swap bags," she confessed, looking down at her outfit. There was no way that her coach would let her run in that.

Katja just rolled her eyes and laughed. "Elizabeth Childs, you useless lesbian. You're so screwed." 


	2. Chapter 2

A few hours later, Beth was standing in front of a house in Scarborough. She checked the pink glittery writing on her arm to confirm the address before approaching the door. Her coach had sent her home when she realized that she didn't have a change of clothes, but at least she had gotten a run in on her way home to her mom's apartment. She couldn't wait until she finally got her car back, but at the same time, she would miss her runs through town. Her apartment, and Alison's house were both pretty close to the school, but in opposite directions, so she couldn't help but be slightly self conscious as she knocked on the door and saw her reflection in the window, with messy hair from the half hour run she had taken to get there.

When a pretty brunette answered the door, Beth's mouth went dry. She had known that someone with a voice that nice wouldn't be ugly, but damn. Alison Hendrix was an inch or two shorter than Beth, and she had the same rich brown hair except with bangs. "Hey," Beth managed to mumble when the door opened. "I have your bag here."

"Come on in," Alison invited, pulling the door wider open. "Your bag's just up in my room, so if you want to sit down for a minute, I'll run up and grab it."

Beth nodded in assent and sat back on the couch that the other girl gestured to, grabbing the water that she had stashed in the bag. She glanced around the room as she waited for Alison to return, looking at the pictures that covered the walls. If the different pictures from ballet recitals and school plays were any indication, Alison was a girl that liked to be in the center of attention. She stopped looking around when she heard the pounding of footsteps on the stairs announcing the other girl's return, but rather than kick her out of the house as Beth suspected, Alison sat down next to her.

"So, a runner?" Alison asked after a brief awkward silence had passed.

Beth grinned in reply, her cheeks reddening slightly. "Was it really that easy to guess?" she asked curiously, glancing at the uptight girl perched on the edge of her seat.

"Well I'm not blind, Elizabeth," Alison replied, rolling her neck. "Gym outfit in your bag, sweat on your forehead. What else would you be?"

Beth groaned softly at the mention of her full name. She hated it, hated how it made the speaker sound more important than her. She hadn't even mentioned her full name to this girl, but Alison seemed to unintentionally know how to get right under her skin.

"I'm not the only one that's easy to read," she replied, glancing at the backpack that she had brought with her.

"Oh really?" Alison asked. "Enlighten me then."

Beth grinned, and then started in. "Alison Hendrix," she began. "You're a junior like me, maybe a little bit older though. You do ballet and you're in drama. You're fairly popular, although I've never heard of you." She smirked at Alison's almost injured expression at her last statement, but plowed right through it, her tone almost clinical as she analyzed what she had learned about her. "Your parents are together, and you have a boyfriend." She paused for a moment before continuing. "They like him; almost more than you do."

Alison was gaping by the end of Beth's speech, and quickly rose to defend herself. "I really like Donnie!" she protested, still in disbelief over the fact that Beth had dared to say that to her face.

"I didn't say you didn't," Beth replied with a grin. "I just said that your parents like him more." Her grin just widened when the other girl let out a frustrated huff. "Anyway Hendrix, I've gotta get going if I want to make it home in time to get my work done. I'll see you at school." She grabbed her bag and headed for the door. "Sorry again about the mix up."

Alison followed her to the door and watched her walk out into the darkness. The other girl was already halfway down the path before she realized what was going on. "You're telling me that you're running home?" she asked in disbelief. "No way I'm letting you do that, Elizabeth."

"What do you want me to do?" Beth asked, rolling her eyes. "My car's in the shop."

Alison sighed as she weighed her options, eventually giving up and reaching for her keys. "Come on," she said with an exasperated sigh. "I'll give you a ride home. I can't let you run home in the dark." It wasn't until they were in the car that Alison told Beth what she had to do.

"You have to be effing kidding me!" Beth exclaimed, slouching back in the passenger's seat.

"I thought you would be more understanding than this," Alison said calmly as she checked her mirrors. "I didn't have time to take driver's ed last year, so I have my license, but I can't drive other people around. Just sit on the floor in front of the seat and we can go. I can't risk getting my license taken away."

Beth grumbled complaints as she lowered herself onto the floor. "You could just let me drive the car, you know," she said, rolling her eyes at Alison.

"I don't know what you're so worried about," Alison replied, opening the garage door automatically, and slowly pulling out onto the street. "I'm a wonderful driver."

Four blocks later, Alison accidentally slammed on the brakes to quickly, eliciting some harsh words from her reluctant passenger. "Christ, Ali!" Beth exclaimed, pressing her hand to her forehead where it has hit the car. "If I didn't know better, I would swear you were trying to kill me!"

Alison just held in a laugh as she continued following Beth's directions, eventually ending up at the apartment that Beth had told her to go to. Beth opened the door and hopped out of the car, closing it before talking to Alison through the window.

"So, I'll probably see you at school then?" she asked hesitantly, not wanting to seem pushy.

"Yeah, sure," Alison replied, for some reason feeling like Beth would be a good person to become friends with.

"Okay," Beth said, a smile forming on her face as she walked away from the car. "I'll see you around then, Alison Hendrix."

"Not if I see you first, Elizabeth Childs."


	3. Chapter 3

Beth had hoped that she would see Alison the next day at school, but their paths remained the same as before they switched bags, completely separate. There had been some good-natured ribbing in the locker room that afternoon after her friends noticed the shift in her mood. Danielle had been the worst, pestering her incessantly to find out who she was moping over. Then, luckily, the conversation had shifted to a different topic.

Danielle was really excited because her friend from back home in France was coming to stay with her the next school year and would be enrolling as a foreign exchange student. Beth had been tuning in and out of the conversation as she thought about Alison, but she snapped herself out of it when Aryanna bumped her shoulder into hers.

"I bet she'd make you forget all about the girl you're so obsessed with," Aryanna teased, gesturing to the picture of the girl on Danielle's phone that they were all looking at.

"Shut up, Ary," Beth muttered, blushing furiously as she looked down at the picture with the rest of them. It was a picture of a blonde french girl, her eyes staring directly into the camera. "Besides," she added once she had gotten over her embarrassment. "She's not my type." Her playful jab hit its mark, making all of her friends laugh.

After Danielle stopped laughing, she turned back to the subject again, making Beth sigh in relief. Sh didn't want her friends hung up on who she liked. As ridiculous as it sounded, she felt like they just wouldn't understand. This was Beth's pattern, crushing on straight girls and never getting anything out of it. She had only had one girlfriend before, and that had been about halfway through sophomore year. Jennifer had been amazing. She was smart, kind, beautiful, and ridiculously athletic. Too athletic, it turned out, when she got invited to train under one of the best coaches in the country for swimming. Of course this coach lived halfway around the country. It wasn't until she had moved away that Beth realized that she had liked Jenn much more than Jenn liked her.

Beth was glad when she heard the coach's whistle signaling them to get out on the track. Beth loved running because it made her feel free, and she always forgot about all of her problems as the wind rushed through her hair. It was like a conscious high, where nothing could stop her.


	4. Chapter 4

It had been a couple of weeks, and Beth had slowly started to forget about the brunette that had captured her attention. Then one day she walked into study hall, and there she was, sitting in Beth's normal seat. She walked up to her, awkwardly standing in front of the desk while she waited for Alison to look up from her phone and notice that she was there. She cleared her throat softly, the noise finally capturing the other girl's attention. Alison looked up, annoyance showing through her expression although it lessened as a glimmer of recognition passed across her face.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" she asked curiously, glancing down at her phone as she spoke.

"Yeah, um... I'm Beth. I accidentally took your bag the othe-"

"Oh, the runner!" Alison interjected, cutting her off. "I remember you now. Is there something I can help you with?"

"Well..." Beth trailed off, suddenly realizing how rude she was being. "You're kind of in my seat."

"Oh!" Alison laughed softly, unaware of her effect on Beth. "I'll scoot over then."

Beth grinned as she watched Alison move over to the chair next to hers. Sitting down she decided that after being so rude before, it might make a good impression to make small talk then.

"So why are you here?" she asked curiously. "This study hall has had the same set of people in it since freshman year."

"Mrs. Norris went on maternity leave," Alison explained. "Rather than just giving us a sub, they split us up and permanently switched our study hall. When she comes back next year, she'll have a new study hall of all freshmen."

"Awesome!" Beth replied, smiling as she realized what this seemingly insignificant switch meant. B day lunches were determined by study hall. Maybe her luck had finally changed.

* * *

At lunch time, Beth headed over to her normal table. It was by the corner, the only table guaranteed to have empty spots every day. On B-days, she only had lunch with a few of her friends, so they usually hung out together. It was an oddball group, made up of people from all the different groups that she hung out with. There was Art and Angie, her two friends from JROTC, Jani from track, and a girl named Cosima that she had just gotten partnered with the other day in her biology class. She and Cosima weren't exactly the best of friends, but she was smart enough to recognize that pushing away the smartest girl in her biology class wouldn't be beneficial to her grade. That day they were the only occupants of the table, and they were sitting there peacefully eating their food when Beth noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Alison was standing in the middle of the room with a couple of her friends. She looked around at the table, counting seats, before slowly getting up, hoping to slyly get over to Alison and invite them to sit. However Art didn't miss anything.

"Beth," he said softly, his voice laced with warning. "No." As Beth continued to get up, he sighed but kept trying. "No, Beth. Stop. No. Don't. Beth!" His voice stayed quiet but steadily became more and more frustrated. He finally gave up when Beth reached the other girls.

"Hey Ali," Beth greeted her. "You guys can come sit with us if you'd like. I know you're new to this lunch."

"Thank you, Elizabeth," Alison replied, amidst the mutterings of her friends angry at being downgraded from their rightful place to a spot where they would be sitting with people that they would consider beneath them.

Beth just grinned and headed back over to her table, making her friends push their trays aside to make room for the newcomers.

Janika's eyes widened as she looked over at the girls coming over. "Is that her?" she asked curiously, knowing that Beth didn't usually associate with popular girls. "The one whose bag you stole?"

"Quiet, Jani!" Beth replied softly, kicking her friend under the table. "Anyway, it wasn't stealing. It was an accident."

They clammed up once the girls sat down next to them, and the next few minutes were filled with an awkward silence as everyone picked at their food.

"So, who-"

"Are you-?"

Alison and Beth dissolved into relieved laughter as, after five minutes, they tried to start up a conversation at the same time.

"Go ahead Ali," Beth said with a grin, picked up a fry from her tray.

"Oh, I was just wondering if you and your friends were going to go to the play Saturday," Alison said. "We're doing a genderbent version of Newsies."

Beth grinned. "Sure, we'll be there, Hendrix," she replied, making a mental note in her head to get tickets, and ignoring Art's shaking shoulders next to her as he tried to hold his laughter in.

Alison smiled back. "Awesome!"

* * *

After the bell rang, Art went up to Beth. "Are we really going to go to some lame play put on by the drama kids?" he asked, obviously hoping that she would take it back.

"You're damn right, we are," Beth replied, knowing deep in her heart that that girl was going to get her in _so much trouble._


End file.
